“We’re getting more new evidence that this criminal act was of a provocative nature,” he stressed. “In particular, there are reports circulating on the Internet, in particular that the materials of the incident and accusations against government troops had been posted for several hours before the so-called attack. Thus, it was a pre-planned action.”
…
The Damascus chemical attack accusations indicate the launch of “another anti-Syrian propaganda wave” and, in this context, the calls on the UN Security Council to immediately use force in Syria “heard from some EU capitals” are “unacceptable”, Lukashevich said.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Assad’s government has demonstrated a “constructive approach” to the chemical weapons issue by allowing UN experts into the country.
But it’s alarming that the “same signals” aren’t coming from the Syrian opposition, which so far hasn’t displayed willingness to ensure the safety and efficient operations of UN investigators on the territory it controls, he said.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday Syria’s opposition was preventing an objective investigation into allegations the Syrian government carried out a chemical weapons attack.
”Much needed signals from the opposition, including its readiness to guarantee the safety and effective work of U.N. experts on territory controlled by militants, unfortunately are not forthcoming,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
”It is directly preventing an objective investigation into the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria.”

The Syrian opposition ought to allow the visiting UN inspectors to safely access the site of this week’s alleged chemical attack in the suburbs of Damascus, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The ball is now in the court of the opposition, which should ensure the [UN] mission’s safe access to the presumed site of the incident,” the ministry said in a statement on Friday following a telephone conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Senior Russian and US diplomats will meet in The Hague next Wednesday to discuss ending Syria’s two-year civil war, the State Department said on Thursday, in what would be the first such meeting since reports of a deadly chemical attack outside the capital, Damascus.
While the meeting was previously announced, a date was never released.
The delegations will include Russian deputy foreign ministers Gennady Gatilov and Mikhail Bogdanov and State Department Undersecretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, the State Department said.
Ford will meet with Syrian opposition leaders in Istanbul, on Sunday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

According to him, the date of the conference depends on how soon the Syrian government and the opposition would be willing to participate in it. Ban Ki-moon said he was going to convene a UN-featured conference Geneva-2 ”as soon as possible”. ”We are working very hard at convening it” – said the UN Secretary-General.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pressed for a UN team to gain access to the site of an alleged chemical attack in Syria, saying he sees ”no good reason” for either side in the civil war to deny a chance to get to the truth of what happened.

So why is the United States baselessly accusing the Syrian military of using chemical weapons? For the same reason it calls the Syrian government the Assad regime. Both serve to create a demon. And creating demons, as Michael Parenti has pointed out, gives you license to intervene.